Supermarkets across Cornwall have seen a surge in shoppers panic-buying food ahead of predicted snow and bad weather.

The Asda store in Penryn saw its sale leap by 30% as shoppers cleared the shelves of fresh food on Monday evening.

It was a similar story at many other supermarkets with empty shelves and blank spaces in the fresh produce sections including at Tesco, Sainsbury's and Aldi.

Cornwall is braced in the grip of The Beast for the East, a front bringing extremely cold Siberian air across Europe with the threat of widespread snow.

On Thursday, Storm Emma is set to hit, with an amber 'risk to life' weather warning in place. for more snow, this time with strong winds in tow.

A spokesman for Asda said Monday had seen a huge surge in demand, including in its Penryn store. He said: “It was quite a day yesterday and it’s been really busy. We’ve seen people buying the whole range of products, everything from toilet rolls to fruit and veg or bread.

Read More

“People are just stocking up. It’s a regular occurrence when you see a yellow weather warning to be honest.

“Yesterday’s sales were up around 30 percent up on a normal Monday. It’s been really quiet today. Everyone was out shopping yesterday.”

A surge in shopping leaves blank spaces on the shelves of Asda in Penryn

Among the shoppers at the store was Cornwall Live’s Carol Churcher, who popped in to get some food and found the shelves bare.

“I didn’t have the chance to go at the weekend, so I called in on Monday night. Normally it's empty, but it was really busy. I took some photographs because I thought my husband will never believe me that there was no food.